Azerbaijan Court Upholds Ban On RFE/RL Website

June 05, 2018

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Azerbaijan Court Upholds Ban On RFE/RL Website

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WASHINGTON -- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) deplored the June 4 decision by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court to uphold a government ban on the company’s Azerbaijani website, calling it an attack on the free press and pledging to continue to pursue all available paths of legal recourse.

“We learned in 2014, when Azerbaijani authorities closed our bureau without regard to law or due process, that we, and all independent media, are a target,” said RFE/RL President Thomas Kent. “This ruling confirms that. It is a blunt use of state power to suppress independent media.”

The June 4 ruling by the Supreme Court is the country’s final word on the ban, which originated with a March 2017 order by the country’s Prosecutor-General to block azadliq.org on grounds that it posed a "threat" to the country's national security, and propagated “violence, hatred, or extremism,” and slander. RFE/RL has now lost two appeals in its efforts to lift the ban, despite the fact that Azerbaijani authorities have failed in every instance to produce evidence supporting their allegations.